Shockproof circuit-breaker structure



w. SCOTT. 'SHOCKPIHOGF CiR-GUII BREKKER STRUCTURE.

APPLICATIONFILED MAY 8,19l8

Emma May 1251920.

I /NVEN TOR. I

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM M. SCOTT, OF TREDYFFRIN TOWNSHIP, CHESTER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

Specifleationof Letters Patent.

' SHOQKPROOF CIRCUIT-BREAKER STRUCTURE.

Patented May 18, 1920.

Application filed Kay 8, 1918. Serial No. 233,201.

'To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM M. Soon, a citizen of the United States, residing at Tredyffrin township, in the county of Chester and State of Pennsylvania, have invented anew and useful Shockproof Circuit- "Breaker Structure, of which the following manual actuation or control.

My invention resides in switch or circuit breaker apparatus comprising a' movable contact structure, locking means, -as a latch, for restraining ity in normal position, and auxiliary latching orlocking means for preventing response of the first named locking means to shock, together with tripping mechanism for actuating or releasing the locking means in succession.

In a specific form of'my invention 1 provide locking mechanism which is biased toward full locking position or which has a tendency to restore itself to full locking position after shock; and with such locking mechanism 1 associate a safety device whichrestricts the movement of the locking mechanism under influence of shock fro its full locking position withina limit or range within which the bias or restoring tendency of the locking mechanism is operative'to cause it to return to full locking position.

does not become cumulative, that is, the successive shocks do not' move the locking mechanism through successive small ranges eventually suflicient to cause release of the switch or circuit breaker. My invention-resides in structure of the character hereinafter described and claimed.

By such structure the effect of successive shocks on the locking mechanism For an illustration of one of various forms my invention may take, reference is to be had to the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a partial side elevational view of an automatic circuit breaker embodying my invention.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary .side elevation, partly in section, and on larger scale, of parts shown in Fig. -1.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of parts shown in ig. 4' is a side elevational view of a part shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a plan view of the structure shown in Fig. 4.

Fig.6 is an elevatlonal view, on enlarged scale, of the latch 01' lockin member.

Fig. 7 is an edge view 0 the structure shown in Fig. 6.

Fig. 8 is a side elevational view of the safety device.

Fig. 9 is an edge view of the same.

Referring tothe drawing, 1 is a base, as a switchboard of insulating material, enerally mounted in a vertical position. pon this base plate is mounted a terminal block 2, connected to the stud 3. Engaging the terminal 2, and a similar termlnal above I the same, not shown, is the movable contact member 4, carried by the arm 5 pivoted at 6 to the bracket -or housing 7, the latter secured upon base 1. Pivoted to the arm 5 at 7* is the short link 8 pivoted at 9 to the long link 10, which is in turn pivoted at 11 to the housing 7. With the contact member 4 in the circuit closing position illustrated, the links 8 and 10, constituting a toggle, are in extended position, the center of the pivot 7 being slightly above the imaginary line joining the centers of pivots 9 and 11. At 9 is also pivoted the short toggle link 12 pivoted at 13 to the toggle link 14 pivoted at 15 to the housing 7 and havingthe extension 16 forming a lever or handle. With the parts in the circuit closing position shown, the toggle 12, 14 is extended-and slightly undertraveled because the center of the pivot 13 is slightly to the leftof the imaginary line jomin the centers of pivots 9 and 15. A spring 1 is-connected at its'one end to the pivot 13 and at its other end to the pivot 6, the spring -'the mechanism in the position shown, there is provided a latch or dog 18 pivotedat 13 and carrying near its other end the roller.

19 pivoted to the member 18 at 20. The roller 19 bears against the roller 21 horizontally pivoted at 22 in the frame or housing 7. The latch 18 terminates in the laterally disposed hook or lug 23 pressing against the roller 21, the point of contact between the rollers 19 and 21 lying slightly below and to the right of the imaginary line joining the center of the roller 22 and the center of the pivot 13, as viewed in Fig. 1, the roller 19 being therefore slightly overtraveled, and the lug or hook 23 prevents further counterclockwise movement of the latch 18 on its pivot 13, as viewedin Fig. 1.

The safety device comprises the plate or member 24 having the vertically extending slots 25 and 26, through the former of which extends the pin or screw 27 carried by the latch 18, and through the other of which extends the pivot pin 20 carried by the latch 18, whereby the plate or member 24 is carried by the latch or dog 18 and is capable of vertical movement thereon. Pivoted concentrically with the roller 21 on the pin 22 is the roller 28 of smaller diameter than roller 21. The plate 24 has a rectangular notch 29 at its end which closely approaches or lightly bears upon the roller 28.

Pivoted on the pin 22 is the latch actuator '30 having the lug 31 adapted to engage the roller 19 and having at its other end the lug 32 engaging the plate 33 carried by the housing 7 to limit clockwise movement of the member 30, as viewed in Fig. 1.

Pivoted at 34 on the member 30 is the sec-- housing 7 at and carrying the armature 41 cooperating with the poles 42 of an in-- verted U-shaped member of iron embracing the stud 3 and magnetized by the current passing through said stud and the contact member 4.

The operation is as follows:

lVith the parts in normal position as illustrated in Fig. 1, actuation of the armature lever 39 in a clockwise direction, either manually by member 41 or due to attraction of armature 41 by the poles 42 upon predetermined current flow through the movable contact member 4, causes the'tail 38 to engage the upper side of the tail or lug 37 of the member 35, rotating the latter in counterclockwise direction upon its pivot 34 upon the member 30, causing the lug 36 to lift the safety plate 24, which moves vertically upon the latch or dog 18 until the portion 43 of the member 35 engages the roller 28, whereupon the member 35 and the 7 member 30 continue -to rotate as a unit about the pivot pin 22 untilthe lug or nose 31 of the member 30 pushes the roller 19 on latch 18 upwardly sufficiently for it to move across the dead center. .Thereafter the 7 roller 19 passes over the roller 21, due to the bias of the pivot 13 toward the left under the influence of the spring 17 and the resiliency of the contact member 4, the toggles collapsing and the arm 5 rotating in a 3 clockwise direction upon its pivot 6 to carry the contact member 4 away from the main terminals and thereby interrupt the circuit. Assuming the apparatus in circuit closing position as illustrated, if the base 1 or the support carrying the same, as the deck or framework of a ship, particularly a warship, subject to shock, is subjected to a shock or blow in a horizontal direction or having a substantially horizontal component, the ef- 9 fect without the safety device, would often be sufficient to cause the latch 18 to disengage from roller 21 and cause premature or undesired opening of the switch. However, with the safety device present, a blow or shock 9 of the character referred to will cause the notched end 29 of the plate 24 firmly to engage the roller 28 and prevent the roller- 19 from disengaging from roller 21; and when the shock or blow is past, the plate 24 will be freed from roller 28 and leave the apparatus in its previous condition ,ready to respond to proper actuation of latch 18.

This action is due to the fact that when the latch 18 starts to move under the influence of external blow or shock, it carries the lower notched end 29 of plate 24 slightly to the left and into engagement with roller 28, thereby limiting the movement of the 1 latch 18 and preventing latch 18 from passing beyond its over-center position, that is, the center of the pin 20 is kept to the right of the imaginary line joining the centers of pins 13 and 22. In this over-center posi- 1 tion the pressure of the latch 18 through its roller 19 on the roller 21 has a component causing it to move in a counter-clockwise direction until the lug 23 comes again into engagement with the roller 21, thus restoring the latch 18 to the position occupied by it before the occurrence of the blow or shock. lVhile the safety plate 24 is movable on or with respect to the dog or latch 18, it is so movable only in a predetermined direction, as vertically, and unless moved in that direction will prevent release of the latch 18 under the influence of blow or shock. Since such external blow or shock as would otherwise cause the unlocking of 130 the latch 18 does not produce such predetermined or vertical movement of the plate 24, plate 24 so limits the movement of the latch 18 that the self-restoring forces are efiective in returning it to its full locked position.

By the hereinbefore described structure the locking mechanism is biased, due to its over-center position, toward its full locked position to which it will always return if it is never moved beyond the dead center or over-center position; the safety plate 24 limits the movement of the locking mechanism to prevent its movement under influence of shock to a distance from which the self-restoring force cannot return it to fully locked position. Accordingly the locking mechanism cannot be released or unlocked either by a single shock or by the cumulative efl'ect of successive shocks.

What I claim is:

1. The combination with the movable con tact member of a switch, of means for locking said contact member, said locking means having a bias toward full locking position, and means limiting the movement of said locking means upon the occurrence or shock to position in which said locking means retain said bias, whereby said locking means returns to full locking position.

' 2. The combination with the movable contact member of a switch, of a latch for locking said contact-member, said latch having a dead center position to one side of which said latch is in fully locked position, and a safety device preventing movement of said latch upon occurrence of shock to the other side of said dead center position.

3. The combination with the movable contact member of a switch, of a latch for looking said contact member, said latch having a bias toward tulllocked position, and a safety member carried by and movable in predetermined direction only with respectto said latch, said safety member limiting the movement of said latch upon occurrence of shock to position in which said latch retains said bias and returns to :tull locked position, and means for moving said safety member upon said latch to allow actuation of said latch to free said contact member.

4;. The combination with the movable contact member of a switch, of means for locle ing said contact member, said means, movable only in predetermined direction for, re-

leasing the same, and a safety device preventing actuation of said locking means in response to shock.

5. The combination with the movable conthe same, and a safety device preventing actuation of said loclnng'means in response to shock comprising auxiliary locking means -restraining said contact member and movferent from the direction of movement of said first named locking means.

7. The combination with the movable contact member of a switch, of means for looking said contact member and movable in predetermined direction only for releasing the same, and a safety device preventing actuation of said locking means in response to shock comprising a member having lost motion with-respect to said locking means in a direction unaffected by shock and. immovable with respect to said locking means in the direction of movement-of said locking means. l

8. The combination with'the movable contact member of a switch, of means for locking the same comprising a latch and a member engaged thereby,"and a safety device preventing dislodgment of said latch in response to shock comprisingv an auxiliary latch and a member engaged thereby during shock to prevent release of said contact member, and means allowing movement of said auxiliary latch in a direction other than the direction of movement of said first named latch.

- 9. The combination with the movable contact member of a switch, of means for locking the same comprising a latch and a mem- -ber engaged thereby, and a safety device contact member.

10. The combination with the movable contact member of a switch, of means for locking the same comprising an abutment, a latch thrusting against said abutment, and an auxiliary latch carried by said latch thrusting against said abutment and re straining said contact member during shock.

11. The combination with the movable contact member of a switch, of-mcans for locking the same comprising an abutment, a latch thrusting against said abutment, an auxiliary latch carried by said latch thrusting against said abutment and restraining said contact member during shock, and

means allowing movement of said auxiliary latch with respect to said latch in a direction to free said auxiliary latch from its abutment.

12. The combination with the movable contact member of a switch, of means for locking the same comprising an abutment and a latch thrusting against said abutment, an auxiliary latch carried by and movable with respect to said latch and engaging said abutment to restrain said contact member during shock, and means for releasing said auxiliary latch and said latch in succession.

13. The combination with the movable contact member of a switch, of means for locking the same comprising an abutment and a latch thrusting against said abutment, said latch having a movement having a horizontal component for releasing said contact member, and an auxiliary latch carried by and movable vertically on'said latch engagingsaid abutment for restraining said contact member during shock.

14%. The combination with the movable contact member of a switch, of means for locking the same comprising an abutment and a latch thrusting against said abutment, said latch having a movement having a horizontal component for releasing said contact member, an auxiliary latch carried by and movable vertically on said latchengaging said abutment for restraining said contact member during shock, and means for actuating said auxiliary latch and said latch in succession.

15. The combination with the movable contact member of a switch, of a roller abutment, a latch, a movable pivot on which said latch is pivoted, and a roller on said latch engaging'said roller abutment.

16. The combination with the movable contact member of a switch, of a roller abutment, a latch, a movable pivot on which said latch is pivoted, a roller on said latch engaging said roller abutment, said roller on said latch overtraveling with respect to said roller abutment, and means for limiting the overt 'avel of said roller.

17. The combination with the movable contact member of a switch, of means for locking the same comprising an abutment and a latch engaging said abutment. an auxiliary latch carried by and movable with respect to said latch and cooperating with said abutment, a latch actuator for actuating said latch to release said contactmember, and a second latch actuator pivoted to said first latch actuator for releasing said auxiliary latch. Y

18. The combination with the movable contact member of a switch, of means for locking the same comprising an abutment and a latch engaging said abutment, an auxiliary latch carried by and movable with respect to said latch and cooperating with said abutment, a latch actuator for actuating said latch to release said contact member, and a second latch actuator pivoted. to said first named latch actuator for releasing said auxiliary latch in advance of the release of said latch by said first named latch actuator.

19. The combination with the movable contact member of a switch, of locking means for restraining the same in normal position, auxiliary means preventing release of said contact member from said locking means, and tripping mechanism for actuating said auxiliary means and said locking means.

20. The combination with the movable contact member of a switch, of pivoted locking means for restraining the same in normal position, auxiliary means carried by and partaking of straight line motion with respect to said locking means preventing actuation of said locking means, and tripping means for first actuating said auxiliary means and thereafter said locking means.

21. The combination with the movable contact member of a switch, of locking means for restraining the same in normal position, auxiliary means preventing actuation of said locking means in response to shock, and tripping means for first actuating said auxiliary means and thereafter said locking means.

22. The combination with the movable contact member of a switch, of means overtraveling beyond a predetermined position for restraining said contact member in normal position, and auxiliary means carried by and slidable upon said first named means preventing operation of. said first named means.

23. The combination with the movable contact member of a switch, of means overtraveling beyond a predetermined position for restraining said contact member in normal position, and auxiliary means carried by and movable with respect to said first named means preventing operation of said first named means.

24. The combination with the movable contact member of a switch, of means overtraveling beyond a predetermined position for restraining said contact member in normal position, auxiliary means preventing operation of said first named means, and tripping mechanism for actuating first said auxiliary means and thereafter said first named means.

.25. The combination with the movable contact umber of a switch, of means overtraveling beyond a predetermined position for restraining said contact member in normal position, auxiliary means carried by and movable With respect to said first named means preventing operation of said first named means, and tripping mechanism for actuating first said auxiliary means and thereafter said first named means.

26. The combination with the movable contact member of an electric switch, of a J latch preventing operation of said latch.

28. The combination with the movable contact member of an electric'switch, of a pivoted latch for restraining the same in normalposition, an auxiliary latch carried by and movable on said latch preventing operation of said latch, and-tripping mechanism for actuating said auxiliary latchand thereafter said first named latch.

.291. The combination with the movable contact member of an electric switch, of a latch for restraining the same in normal position, an auxiliary latch carried by and movable with respect to said first named latch preventing operation of said latch, and tripping mechanism for actuating said auxiliary latch and thereafter said first named latch. r

30. The combination with a base, of a movable contact member of an electric switch, a latch movable with said contact member and engaging said-base for locking said contact member in normal position, and

' an auxiliary latch carried by Said latch and engaging said base for holding said first named latch in locking position.

31. The combination with the movable contact member of an electric switch, of a latch for locking the same in normal position, and an auxiliary latch carried by and movable with respect to said latch holding said firstnamed latch in looking position.

32. The combination with the movable contact member of an electric switch, of a pivoted latch' for locking the same in normal position, an auxiliary latch carried by and having sliding connectionwith'said first named latch holding said first named latch in looking position, and tripping mechanism for releasing said auxiliary latch and thereafter said first named latch. v

33. The combination with the movable contact. member of an electric switch, of a latch for locking the same in normal position, an auxiliary latch carried by andmovable with res ect to said latch holding said first named atch in locking position, and tripping mechanism for releasing said auxiliary latch and latch 34. The combination with the movable thereafter said first named contact member of a switch, of a latch for restraining the same in normal position, an

' auxiliary latch carried by and movable with respect to said latch, latch actuators for said latches, and a connection between said actuators whereby oneof them first actuatessaid auxiliary latch and thereafter actuates the actuator of said first named latch.

35. The combination with the movable contact member of an electric switch, of a latch for restraining the same, an auxiliary latch carried by and sliding on said latch restraining said latch to prevent response thereof to shock, and means for actuating said auxiliary latch and thereafter said first named latch to free said contact member.

36. The combination with the movable contact member of an electric switch, of means movable with said contact member for locking the same in normal position, and auxiliary means for holdingv said locking means in looking position.

37. The combination with the movable member of an electric switch, of a locking member movable therewith for locking the same in normal position, and a latch for holding said locking member in looking position.

38. The combination with the movable contact member of an electric switch, of means movable with said contact member for loclring the same in normalpo'siticn, auxiliary means for holding said locking means in looking position, and means for actuating said auxiliary means and said locking means in succession.

39. The combination with the movable contact member of an electric switch, of means for loclring the same in normal position comprising a member havin a dead center position to one side of w ich said member lies for locking said contact memher, and means for holding said locking means in looking position.

40. The combination with the movable contact member of a switch, of a latching member traveling beyond a dead center position to lock said contact member, and an auxiliary latch holding said latch member against return through dead center position.

V 42. The combination .with the movable contact member of an electric switch, of operating means therefor, locking means movable with said contact member and operating means for locking said contact member in normal position, said means comprising a member traveling through dead center position to lock said contact member, and auxiliary means for locking said locking means in looking position.

43. The combination with a base, of a switch contact movable thereon, operating means for said contact, means for locking said contact in normal position pivoted to said operating means and comprising a member traveling through dead'center position to lock said contact member, and auxiliary means carried by and movable with respect to said base independently of said operating, means for locking said locking means in loz'king position.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto affixed my signature this 6" day of Ma 1918.

WILLIAM M. SC TT. 

